High 5 Heights retail shop opens in Palos Heights

High 5 Heights at 12213 S. Harlem, Palos Heights, provides a new era of opportunity for adult students with special needs within the District 218 community.

By Kelly White

The first retail store to train, employ, sell products made by adults with special needs opened its doors in Palos Heights.

The store, called, High 5 Heights at 12213 S. Harlem, Palos Heights, provides a new era of opportunity for adult students with special needs within the District 218 community.

High 5 Heights will sell goods created by students and graduates from Eisenhower, Richards and Shepard high schools with special needs from the district’s Adult Transition Program, including handmade bracelets from Jem Flores.

“This is so cool to be able to sell something I made,” Flores, 20, of Blue Island, said.

Palos Heights Mayor Bob Straz proudly welcomed High 5 Heights into the Palos Heights community. 

Some other products sold include handmade wood working items, crochet blankets, paintings and drawings, and more. The store also sells goods from regional and national brands created by adults with special needs, along with High 5 Apparel, the 10-year-old small business operated by the Adult Transition Program.

“High 5 Heights merges our communities together and provides the opportunity for us to grow and shop together,” Adult Transition Program Coordinator Alison Wilde said. “Students are gaining critical skills to be independent adults.”

“This aspect, with our students working in the community, truly makes this an exciting and meaningful enterprise,” Associate Superintendent for District 218, Dr. Sue Feeney, said.

As Wilde and Feeney said, High 5 Heights offer a truly unique working and shopping environment, because there is currently no other district that features a retail store to provide the experiences for skill development, employment, personal and social growth, and marketing of goods.

High 5 Heights provides job training for students and graduates of the ATP in heat transfer press, laser engraving, embroidery and other skills.

Students voted on the name for the store with High 5 coming from the existing small business, and Heights for reaching new job training heights. At the time of name selection, they didn’t know Palos Heights would become its home, Feeney said.

Jem Flores, 20, of Blue Island, shows off bracelets she made for High 5 Heights.

Then plans for the project sparked last academic year when District 218’s Director of Special Education Kerri Piscitelli and Feeney set out to find a place to serve for such an operation. They drove District 218 neighborhoods to locate an appropriate property and discovered the Harlem storefront.

When they called a realtor to ask about the Harlem Avenue location, they discovered she already possessed a district connection as a parent of Shepard students.

Superintendent Dr. Josh Barron quickly greenlit the store and architects developed plans, and District 218 maintenance staff renovated the space, making the dream a reality.

“This store embodies community,” Barron said. “It’s important to prepare kids for the future and that’s exactly what High 5 Heights is doing. It gives them a chance to be the employer, while at the same time, teaches them life, business and entrepreneurship skills.”

Director of Special Education for Community High School District 218, Kerri Piscitelli, agreed.

“Expanding our program into the community provides amazing opportunities for our students,” Piscitelli said. “It’s a retail store that involves students directly from the conception of its products to the end, when they are sold.”

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on November 29 and Palos Heights Mayor Bob Straz was happy to welcome the store to the community.

“High 5 Heights is a wonderful addition to Palos Heights,” Straz said. “It gives students the ability to earn a living and promotes self-esteem.”

Stephanie Lopez, who taught herself how to crochet by watching YouTube videos, could not be more excited to see her own masterpieces in the store.

“It’s really cool to be involved in something this big,” Lopez, 19, of Chicago Ridge, said.

High 5 Heights will operate from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday as a retail store open to the general public.

High 5 Heights at 12213 S. Harlem, Palos Heights, provides a new era of opportunity for adult students with special needs within the District 218 community.